Investor Presentaiton
Current Account Balance (US Dollars) for Nigeria in the year under review was
13.685 Billion, making the country No.24 in world rankings according to Current
Account Balance (US Dollars) in 2008. In the previous year, 2007, Current Account
Balance for Nigeria was 3.47 billion, the economy witnessed an increment of
10.638billion within the year under review.
4.7
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Telecommunications is an economic success story in the country. Since
deregulation, it has been Nigeria's fastest growing sector and indeed one of the
fastest growing in the telecommunication industry in the world. Millions of
Nigerians previously lacking communication services are now connected by cell
phones.
The communications sector further improved in 2007, driven mainly by the
Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM), from and estimated N6 billion
($50 million) in 2003, investments in the nation's telecommunications industry
(mobile telephony) have risen to N180 billion ($9billion) four years after. Also,
the Federal Government has made over N242 billion ($2.2 billion) from spectrum
licensing fees in the past five years. Teledencity has increased from 0.73% in
December 2001 to 26.47% in August 2007 (in subscriber terms) the increase has
been from approximately 400,000 lines to over 38 million subscribers in 2007. The
mobile market surpassed South Africa to become Africa's largest mobile market
by subscriber numbers.
Table 4.8.1: The Nigerian Telecommunication Market
1999
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006*
No. of Connected Fixed Lines (000)
450
702
850
1,120
1,223
1,538
No. of Connected Digital Mobile Lines (million)
None
1.59
3.10
9.20
18.59
25.14
No. of National Carriers
1
2
2
2
2
2
No. of Operating ISPS
18
30
35
40
60
90
No. of Active Licensed Fixed Line Operators
9
16
30
17
20
27
Number of Licensed Mobile Operators
1
4
4
4
4
10**
Investment (US$ million)
50
2,100 4,000
6,000
7,500
8,150
Source: Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC)
Fig 4.8.2: Trends of Total Connected Lines and Teledencity
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